30 Paintings Fill Every Corner of Slein Gallery in Boccia Retrospective

The Philip Slein Gallery at 4735 McPherson Avenue is displaying more than 30 paintings in its entirety, a move the owner says has rarely happened in the last 23 years. The exhibition, titled Edward E. Boccia: An American Modernist, opened with a reception on October 23 from 5 to 8 p.m. and will remain on view through December 19.

The gallery typically restricts individual shows to its front room. For this retrospective, however, the walls are filled with works spanning a six-decade career. Philip Slein called the display a significant undertaking. He noted that only an institutional setting could potentially host a larger survey of Boccia's output.

Edward E. Boccia was born in New Jersey in 1921 to Italian parents. He served in the World War II Ghost Army and later studied at the Pratt Institute, the Art Students League, and Columbia University. He joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis in 1951. He taught there for more than 30 years before retiring in 1986 with the title of professor emeritus.

Rosa Berland, a New York-based art historian and curator, described Boccia's teaching style as rigorous yet open. She said he encouraged students to find their own creative fire. Boccia produced thousands of paintings, ranging from small seaside scenes to large multi-panel works. He continued creating until his death in 2012 at age 91. Slein observed that Boccia was constantly drawing whenever he was not sleeping or eating.

The exhibition layout mirrors Boccia's artistic evolution. The front room features large-scale pieces, including the nine-panel polyptych "Eugene's Journey" and the 2004 triptych "David's Death." A hallway displays mythic ocean scenes with figures that appear to emit inner light. The final room features a salon wall that traces his development from a 1950s portrait to a work painted shortly before his death. Influences from Cézanne, Picasso, Magritte, and Max Beckmann are visible throughout the collection.

Hirmer is publishing a companion book titled Edward E. Boccia: Painter of Nightmares and Dreams during the exhibition run. Berland wrote the monograph after 14 years of research. It is the first major scholarly work dedicated to the artist and includes fold-out plates to show the scale of his multi-panel pieces. Berland credited Morton D. May as Boccia's greatest patron and described the artist as a polymath who studied philosophy, theology, and psychoanalysis.

A pamphlet for the show, prepared by Berland and Slein, advises visitors to simply experience the art rather than worry about its specific meaning. Berland stated that Boccia's work demands engagement on multiple levels. She compared the viewing experience to reading a poem or a philosophical text, noting that people no longer slow down to process such complex materials.